Human error behind duck-related road deaths: Quebec police

By
Staff The Canadian Press

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Emma Czornobaj is pictured at the Montreal Courthouse in Montreal, Tuesday, June 3, 2014. She is charged in the deaths of two people amid allegations she stopped her car on a highway to help some ducks.

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MONTREAL – A police investigator said that human error was behind the deaths of two people whose motorcycle slammed into the back of a car as the motorist was allegedly helping some ducks.

Emma Czornobaj has pleaded not guilty to two counts each of criminal negligence causing death and dangerous driving causing the deaths of Andre Roy and his 16-year-old daughter, Jessie.

Watch: Duck trial continues

Witnesses have said the accused was tending to a family of ducks when the accident occurred.

A Quebec provincial police officer tasked with reconstructing the scene of the accident in June 2010 told the accused’s jury trial on Monday that Czornobaj’s vehicle was parked in the left lane of a busy highway south of Montreal but that she wasn’t in it.

Samuel Beaudet said Roy’s motorcycle was going as fast as 121 km/h at the time of impact and that both victims were wearing helmets that did not meet safety standards.

But the investigator said neither of those factors contributed to their deaths.